(Mis)Communication in the Workplace

Yesterday I gave two classroom presentations to students on self-assessment- knowing and articulating one’s strengths and selecting a career (or major) that will be a good fit. Most of the students in the classes were freshmen and had not been exposed to the concept of self-assessment previously. Consequently, at certain points when I was talking, I noticed that some of the students in the class looked at me as if I had five heads. Oops! I needed to backtrack, attempt to put myself in their shoes, and rework my message to be relevant and meaningful for them.

Those classroom talks were a good reminder that, no matter the circumstance, we need to tailor our message to our audience. Whether that audience consists of one person or 500 people is irrelevant- understanding your audience is critical to being an effective communicator. However, this can get somewhat tricky, particularly in the workplace, because we often don’t have extensive insight into what makes our co-workers, clients, or supervisors tick. Understanding your own personality can help immensely in this process. If you have not taken the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), I highly recommend it as a tool to utilize in understanding your own personality and communication style and how it might differ from those around you. You can find versions of the assessment in books at the library and online (even on Facebook!) but for the most accurate results and a thorough interpretation, see a professional who is qualified to administer it. (If the college you attended is nearby, check with their career center- the service may be free of charge for you.) Again, as my classroom presentation story illustrates, I am not perfect at this art. It is something I work hard at though, so I hope the below musings will be helpful. Feel free to chime in with your own as well.

When interacting with a co-worker, client, etc- listen for clues on their value judgments and try to tailor your message based on that. For instance, does he or she have family pictures on his or her desk? Does he or she come in to work with stories about his/ her weekend adventures? If so, you may want to spend a minute or two chatting about non-work-related things before jumping into the task at hand. Conversely, if the person is more no-nonsense and to the point about current tasks, go with that. Dive right in with work-related items and leave out the personal stuff.

Another big area where communication breaks down lies in how people take in information. Is your supervisor a stickler for details? If so, be armed with step-by-step process ideas and be prepared for some nitty-gritty questions. If you are big-picture focused, that level of detail may drive you absolutely bonkers. However- that is what the recipient of your message needs in order to understand. Conversely, your supervisor may be a big-picture type of person. If you are very detailed, figure out the key points of your proposal and share those. Although the minute details of the project may strike you as incredibly important, those things may not be as relevant to the recipient of your message. And in all likelihood, if the recipient of your message needs or wants more detail, he or she will ask.

There are dozens of other ways that miscommunication occurs in the workplace- the above are only two areas. Keeping the message recipient’s needs in mind though will ALWAYS be a key tool in mitigating any sort of conflict. I’m also a believer that, when in doubt, over-communication is better than under-communication. People can always tune out your message if they deem it irrelevant, but they can’t read your mind in case they feel the message is important to them.